I hate scare mongering lawyers, but it looks like the risk that a business will be sued under the ADA based on web accessibility has dramatically increased over the last few months. Web access lawsuits may be one of the most important kinds of ADA litigation in 2016. This is not because of any change in the law, which remains largely unchanged and undeveloped. It is instead because of a change in plaintiff’s lawyers. Since this summer Carlson Lynch Sweet & Kipela, a Pennsylvania law firm with a very active ADA litigation practice, has filed at least eleven new lawsuits alleging ADA violations based on web accessibility. The defendants are primarily national retailers or restauranteurs: Footlocker, Sears, Toys-R-Us, Brooks Brothers, Pep Boys, and Hard Rock Cafe among others. Following these lawsuits Carlson Lynch has apparently sent dozens, if not hundreds of demand letters to retailers all over the country offering to settle supposed ADA web access claims. My clients in different states have received such letters, and I’m sure they are only a small sampling of the total sent. It remains to be seen how aggressively Carlson Lynch will follow up these demand letters, but they will certainly serve as an example to other law firms who represent ADA plaintiffs, so a wave of such demands and possibly lawsuits can be expected. More
ADA
Here we go again – ADA legislation to discourage serial litigation
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA, ADA Attorney's Fees Tags: "drive-by", congress, HR 3765
Marianne Wilson of Chain Store Age Media reported that a new effort at ADA litigation reform, the “ADA Education and Reform Act of 2015”, H.R. 3765, was introduced on October 20, 2015, by Representatives Ted Poe (R-TX), Doug Collins (R-GA) and David Jolly (R-FL). Like previous attempts to amend the private remedy provisions in the ADA this one requires notice and opportunity to cure as a prerequisite to a private lawsuit. I won’t speculate on the odds that it will pass in the current legislative climate, but it does provide a reason to look at real problems with private ADA enforcement, none of which are addressed by this legislation. Instead of treating plaintiffs as the problem, Congress should look at defects in the ADA and the way the courts interpret it. More
A word to the wise – DOJ is looking for ADA violations.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA, DOJ, Restaurants Tags: ADA "Department of Justice" Restaurants
Thanks blog is thanks to Ken Besserman, General Counsel of the Texas Restaurant Association, who sent me this link to an article about an announced Department of Justice investigation of restaurants in Houston, Texas. Twenty-five popular restaurants will be investigated for ADA violations over the next several months.
This investigation is worthy of note for several reasons. First, none of the restaurants is the subject of any specific complaint. Instead the investigation was timed to coincide with a symposium of civil rights advocacy groups. This is a good reminder for all businesses that the power of the Department of Justice to investigate possible ADA violations does not require that DOJ wait for a specific complaint. A business thinking that it won’t be targeted because it seems to have no disabled customers needs to know that DOJ doesn’t need a disabled complaining party in order to enforce the ADA. More
ADA serial litigation problems? – don’t get mad, get even.
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA, ADA Attorney's Fees, ADA FHA Litigation General Tags: ada litigation, ADA pleading, ADA standing, private lawsuits, private litigants, restaurants, retail, serial plaintiffs
This post was inspired by an article forwarded from fellow ADA blogger William Goren, whose blog contains excellent analysis of current cases. The article describes a Florida hotel’s fight against a local serial ADA complainant who, it appears, may be afraid to go to trial on the lawsuit he filed. It isn’t clear how the case will end, but the defendant has William Norkunas on its side. Norkunas is himself a frequent ADA plaintiff and has served as an expert witness in more than a thousand cases. He is clearly an advocate for ADA enforcement, but is quoted as saying that the plaintiff in this particular case is operating a “continuing criminal enterprise that boils down to extortion.” More
ADA Maintenance – An ounce of prevention . . . .
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA, ADA Attorney's Fees, ADA FHA Litigation General, ADA Policies, Policies and Procedures FHA ADA, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers Tags: ada litigation, ADA Policies, private lawsuits, restaurants, retail
One of the many ADA risks that businesses face is the risk of sliding into non-compliance through maintenance failures. This seems to come up most often in the context of parking, because the markings required for accessible parking are exposed to the weather and to wear from car tires. I recently settled a case of this type, and a reported opinion from California was a reminder of how important maintenance can be.
In Lozano v. C.A. Martinez Family Ltd. P’ship, 2015 WL 5227869, at *4 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 8, 2015), the complaint concerned nothing more complicated than striping accessible parking. The paint had faded and on repeated occasions over months the access aisles were blocked. As soon as the lawsuit was filed the owner repainted, but that was too late for the Court, which found that a policy of re-striping that apparently had not been followed would not let the owner escape an injunction and, of course, paying fees to the plaintiff’s attorney. More